Man Accused Of Raping 13-Year-Old Twice, Beating Her At Quarantine Facility For COVID-19 Patients

An Israeli man has been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl and beating her at a government-run hotel quarantine facility for confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Yarin Sherf, 21, has been accused of raping the teenage girl twice then beating and choking her while the two of them were staying at the special quarantine hotel operated by the state's welfare system, reported The Times of Israel.

Sherf was arrested on Feb. 24 after receiving reports of the sexual assault at the facility. The court ordered the custody to be extended by four days during a virtual hearing Tuesday. The court observed that there is a reasonable suspicion that Sherf committed the alleged crimes.

"This is a despicable act," the victim's mother told the court. "With my legs trembling and a broken heart I ask to punish the cruel criminal. He has finished off the girl’s life with a cruel act."

Sherf admitted to having sex with the teenage girl but claimed that it was consensual. He also said that the girl had told him she was 16.

"Young girls today have consensual sex even at the ages of 13 and 14, and the cases do not come to the attention of the police," Nir David, Sherf's attorney, told the court.

But according to Yevgeny Kapilevich, the police representative, the victim was raped violently and without consent. "From the conversations with her, we can learn that she did not want him to come, but he came and raped her violently," Kapilevich said as per the New York Post.

The alleged assault happened in the facility that houses confirmed COVID-19 patients from state welfare dormitories for young people who are unable to live at home. The hotel, which is situated in the city of Jaffa, houses male and female guests on separate floors and does not allow straying between the two.

In a similar incident in July 2020, a 14-year-old girl from India was sexually assaulted at a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, reported BBC. The police arrested a 19-year-old man who allegedly assaulted the teenage victim inside a bathroom of the facility. The suspect's friend who reportedly filmed the act was also arrested.